A Book Festival For The Epidemic Era, Live From Africa

“Afrolit Sans Frontières, a series of hourlong readings and question-and-answer sessions held entirely on Facebook and Instagram, kicked off on March 23 and [is recurring monthly]. In the face of the pandemic, with countless numbers of book fairs, tours and other literary events canceled or postponed, Afrolit stands out as a gathering where readers — for some sessions, hundreds have logged in — can hear from authors and talk to them about sometimes difficult or taboo subjects.” – The New York Times

Francophone African Authors Are Finally Getting Their Work Published Within Africa

For decades, most authors writing in French in Africa have had to publish their books in France, partly because of a lack of publishing infrastructure at home and partly because French companies have insisted on worldwide rights. So if these writers’ books appear in their own countries at all, the prices are something like a week’s pay for an ordinary person. Now the authors are pushing back, insisting on retaining rights for Africa and even starting their own publishing houses to produce affordable editions. – The Guardian

What Are The Possibilities Of Socially Distanced Performance? We’ve Been Seeing Some Of Them For Years

Justin Davidson: “There is a cohort of artists and presenters who, long before the great contagion, were already rethinking the physical relationships between performers, audience, and space. They rebelled against the tyranny of the proscenium, placed intimate shows in vast rooms, coaxed audiences to roam, and expanded their palette with electronics — all techniques that could now prove essential. … I can think of a dozen powerful experiences from the recent past that might seem suddenly timely.” – Vulture

Morton Feldman’s Music Is Just The Thing For Quarantine

By the time new Washington Post classical critic Michael Andor Brodeur confesses that he used to listen to Feldman at the supermarket and when stuck in traffic, you might think he’s not impartial enough to make a convincing case. Actually, he’s pretty persuasive: “Now, as the days repeat with barely perceptible variations like one of Feldman’s figures, his music isn’t just lending form to time as it drifts by, it’s recalibrating my sense of scale. And I’m not alone.” – The Washington Post

The Satellite Company That Helps Transmit Everything To Everyone Has Just Gone Bankrupt

“Set up in the 1960s via international treaty, Intelsat SA has played a critical and often-overlooked role providing connectivity infrastructure for more than a half century so that humanity could witness everything from Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon in 1969 to Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ recent victory in [this year’s] Super Bowl. But thanks to technological evolution, shifting FCC priorities and the latest COVID-19 pandemic, the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Next-Level Zoom – The Virtual Reality Version

“The weird feel of us meeting in a virtual fishtank, with real people able to peek in, makes me think of a possible future where performers work in VR, while directors or creators observe in video panels, able to provide more emotional nuance with their faces. VR isn’t able to blend moving around and using real facial expressions yet, which makes VR theater performances feel more like dance and puppetry than real living, talking faces. But this hybrid of VR and video chat feels like something new.” – CNET

America’s First Subsidized Artists’ Housing Complex Turns 50

“Many of the community’s original tenants remain, and with rents for a live-work studio in the building maxing at about $1,200 per month — $1,900 less than the median rent for a studio in the neighborhood, according to StreetEasy — who could blame them? But residents of Westbeth have found more than cut-rate rents among the 383 lofts designed by a young Richard Meier. Their Hudson River-facing community is a stronghold of creative output and unyielding spirit in a neighborhood that’s now at odds, at least financially, with the reality of being a working artist in New York.” – New York Post